While it may not be necessary to
specifically list web design services to be avoided it may be helpful to
offer
some pointers on how to evaluate web design services.

Perhaps the first item that should be said about web design services is to
separate actual web design services from a slew of other services that may
purport to be web design services when, in fact, they are not really web
design services at all. These services will usually claim to be the
Internet analog to Yellow Pages and weekly newspapers.

The Internet is still very new, and it is often tempting to compare
pricing for purported Yellow Pages and weekly newspaper services with
print counterparts. This is not a good idea unless you also feel
that it is fair to compare the benefits of walking to each engagement with
using some other form of transportation.

Advertising in the Yellow Pages or weekly newspapers can be very
expensive. These forms of advertising are expensive not only because
they very often seek to take advantage of the market segment they service
but also because they have many expenses to cover before they can see a
profit. Besides the machines (hardware) required to produce their
publications they also need paper to produce their product, and the cost
of paper can be expensive. With the Internet machines (in the form
of servers, routers, and phone connections) are still required, but there
is no associated cost of paper unless you consider bandwidth as the
Internet analog of paper, which is probably not appropriate since most
purveyors of Internet analogs for Yellow Pages and weekly newspapers pay a
flat rate for their bandwidth.

The largest group of these Internet analogs to print media services to
avoid would any that is telling you that you must pay to use their
"web design" services on top of what you are already paying for
the "privilege" of advertising on their website. Such
services are never a good deal, and more often such services can be not
only very expensive but also a source of bad information. At their
worst these "services" can turn into outright extortion scams
that can create a lot of extra problems for you.

There are still a few "classified" services offering ads at
rates at or around US$400.00 per year. These services
"design" your ad and devote a lot of copy to telling the
potential client what a "great deal" their service is for them,
but they really are not providing much that the potential client could not
do alone, especially when they are actively seeking to link the potential
client website with other websites around the country and world.
Remember, many of these services are using the traffic your advertisement
is generating to also create click-through revenue for their website, and
in some cases visitors are, in fact, required to pay for a membership just
access the website.

At their worst such "classified" services can be a source of bad
information, especially when the services do not take steps to ensure that
such things as the client's email address and website URL are correct.
Everyone knows how frustrating it can be to finally hear from someone that
had been trying unsuccessfully to reach you through an email address no
longer in use that had been posted at a "classified" website.
Worse yet is when someone posts an article to a newsgroup stating that a
website owner either does not respond to their email or their email
address is no longer in service.

At US$400.00 per year that single webpage ad containing a graphic and
limited text is costing the over US$30.00 per month. For US$30.00
per month someone can own a 10Mb website that would be under their
complete control. Of course, you say, that someone would need
to also either create the website content themselves or have a third-party
do the initial web design work. While the cost of designing a
website should be factored into your advertising budget it should be
remembered that you own the content created through the web design
process, and you can continue to use the core website content for longer
than one year, especially when such content includes a custom Theme for
your website.

Getting to the key issue of what constitutes a fair price to pay you
should consider how much value is really included with the cost of the web
design process and what control you will have over the process. Here
are some examples of things to consider in the process of selecting a web
design service.

1.

If you are
being asked to pay for web design on an hourly basis and have no
control over the time being invested in your project, you probably
should look elsewhere for a web design service. At the very
minimum you should seek a written estimate for the web design work
that clearly defines exactly what content will be provided as part
of the website. Even with such an estimate you should ask
questions about how the web design firm intends to create the
content for your website. For example, are you being charged
on the basis of estimates for hand coding when, in fact, the web
design service uses web design generating tools such as FrontPage?
Or, are you being charged the full hourly time for the use of
templates used in the creation of websites form prior engagements.
In other words, are you being charged for something that the web
design firm has charged another client for in the past. Why
should you pay for something that has already been paid for in the
past? Let the web design service know that you expect to see
the time sheets of the staff involved with your project. If
they balk at making such time sheets available, you have reason to
believe that they are doctoring the billing time. If
the web design service has done a website for any other client,
you can be sure they still have the basic methodology to easily
reconstruct similar website again and again. Such experience
should be reflected in their estimates. If they appear to be
showing you an estimate based on doing everything from scratch,
they are overstating the time it will take them to create your
website.

2.

If you are
being asked to pay for web design on a page by page basis and have
to face onerous limitations on what constitutes a page, you
probably should look elsewhere for a web design service.
Being charged US25.00 or US$50.00 per webpage when there may be
only a single photo on a webpage or a limit of say only
twenty-five (25) words on a webpage is what most would define as
highway robbery. Ask the web design service to clearly
define what constitutes a webpage in their mind. Some web
design services will have limits on webpage content that cannot be
supported under any circumstance.

3.

If you are
being told that the web design service will retain the copyright
and all other rights to any content created for your website, you
probably should look elsewhere for a web design service.
What you should be clear on is that you are looking for a service
that will clearly state that they are providing a "work for
hire" service where you retain all ownership of the copyright
on the resulting work.

4.

If you are
being told that the web design service is available only when you
also have your website hosted by their service, you probably
should look elsewhere for a web design service. This is
actually a corollary on the issue of whether or not you should own
the copyright for the content of your website. When you own
the copyright on your website you should have complete control
over where such content is located. What may appear as a
good web design cost may wind up leaving you exposed to some very
expensive web hosting charges not only now but into the future.

5.

If it appears
that your website is being created in such a way that it will have
a "look and feel" like every other website created by
the web design service, you probably should look elsewhere for a
web design service. You can expect that your website will
contain sections found on other websites, but you should not
expect that your website will be an exact clone of every other
website that the web design service has created. Your
website should have a "look and feel" that is unique
just as your business is unique.

6.

If it is your
serious intent to takeover the maintenance of your website once
the initial web design work is completed, you should be searching
for a web design service that can create a website using skills
that are within the skills that are quite easily transferable to
you. In other words, unless you are prepared to learn how to
hand code html it would be best not to select a web design that
relies exclusively on the hand coding of html. There are web
design tools that are quite easy to learn. One of the
easiest to learn and use is Microsoft FrontPage.

7.

If the web
design service insists that you pay them a monthly fee for the
purpose of maintaining your website as a condition in their
arrangement with you, you probably should look elsewhere for a web
design service.

8.

If the web
design service offers only a one or two webpage solution with no
real flexibility for expansion or modification, you probably
should look elsewhere for a web design service. Remember,
you are creating a web presence that will be your key online
marketing venue. There is no reason to settle for something
that does not afford you with the option to expand your content or
alter the layout.

All of the items listed just above amount to
mostly common sense. The important thing is that you feel
comfortable with the web design service you select. If you do not
feel comfortable with the service, you will probably not be satisfied with
their solution.

Personally, I prefer to avoid web designs that use frames as an integral
part of the design. My opinion is mostly a personal view, but I have
seen too many websites that look very cluttered and chopped up because
they were designed using frames. On a more practical note, I can say
that a website using frames is usually more difficult to maintain than a
website that does not use frames, especially when you consider that you
are never able to know whether a website visitor is viewing your website
using a screen resolution of 640x480 rather than 800x600. With a
frame design the person viewing your website at 640x480 will see something
much different the person viewing your website at 800x600.